The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4) (18 page)

He spat blood on the ground and got up. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at his own blood.

*   *   *

The
Phoenix
had recharged more than half its shields when it emerged from the
Maticora
’s shadow and entered the fight against the Zarlack ships. The fourth destroyer which was orbiting Droxia rejoined the other three and it’s added firepower gave the Zarlacks the upper hand again as they went back onto the offensive.

Six jump points formed near the battlefield, and for a moment Ronan and Arknon thought the Zarlacks had brought in reinforcements, but their instruments displayed a friendly signature. The ships were Obsidian.

“This is Emperor Raxin to Earth Alliance ships. We were in the area when we intercepted a distress call sent towards Earth. Engaging the enemy now.”

The added firepower of the Obsidian ships, though far less advanced than both Droxian and Earth Alliance destroyers, brought balance again between the opposing fleets.”

The
Phoenix
concentrated her fire on the nearest Zarlack destroyer, pounding it with battery laser fire and torpedoes. But the damn destroyer’s shields were so strong it had only a limited impact. No matter how many ships fired upon those behemoth destroyers, their shields never seemed to waver. But then one of the newer design Alliance ships flew in front of the
Phoenix
and hit the Zarlacks with their powerful new plasma guns. It took a good portion of their target’s shields. In response the Zarlack sent a full volley of torpedoes towards their target, already maneuvering away.

Three torpedoes that were meant for the Earth Alliance destroyer struck the port shields of the
Phoenix
and brought them down to fifteen percent.

The
Phoenix
’s batteries stopped firing.

“Ronan? What happened?”

“That last salvo took out our weapons.”

“Most of our shields as well,” said Arknon.

“I think we’d better try to take out one of the Furies on the surface. While the destruction in the northern hemisphere seems to have paused, the destruction in the south is still continuing at an alarming rate. Another five major cities have been obliterated. We need to make it stop.”

“How do you propose we do that?”

“Just like we’ve discussed earlier: we crash the ship right on top of that Fury. I don’t care how powerful these beings are, that
has
to kill them.”

“We’ll kill whomever is in the area of the crash, that’s for sure.”

“They’ll die anyway if we don’t do anything.”

“Right. Let me clear it with the admiral first.”

Arknon opened a channel to the
Manticora
.

“Admiral, requesting permission to leave the fleet. We’re almost out of shields. We’ve just lost weapons as well and we believe we can do a better job trying to eradicate one of the Furies on the planet.”

“Is that what is destroying our cities one by one? Furies?”

“From the intel we’ve received there are two Furies down on the surface at the moment.”

“What? Only two individuals are responsible for inflicting so much damage?”

“I know it’s hard to believe. We’ll try to remove one from the equation until reinforcements arrive.”

“How so? If they are so powerful I doubt our weaponry will do the trick.”

“We’re thinking of ramming the
Phoenix
into one of them.”

There was silence.

“Any other day I would plain refuse this course of action, but today . . . today is Armageddon, and we stand on the brink of total annihilation.”

“Does that mean we have a go?”

“Yes, Captain. How do you intend to get off the ship yourselves?”

“Escape pods.”

“That’s a risky proposition at best.”

“We know, but we must try.”

“I agree. Good luck. May the prophets of Droxia be with you.”

“Thank you, Admiral. May they be with you as well.”

Arknon vectored the
Phoenix
towards Droxia and pushed the sub-light engines to maximum.

“Ronan, see if you can lock onto the coordinates of the Fury in the southern hemisphere. Time to see if crashing a destroyer on its face will kill a Fury.”

“I’ve located his position. Crap!”

“What is it, Ronan?”

“He’s near the city where my uncle Jonas lives.”

“Can we try to hail him?”

“Already opening that channel.” There were a few seconds of silence. “There’s no answer.”

“Perhaps he fled the area. I take it there’s utter panic on Droxia at the moment.”

“I sure hope so.”

“It was your idea to crash the ship. If you want to reconsider . . .”

“No, don’t worry. The admiral was right. Today we face extinction, and sacrifices have to be made. We’re about to doom anyone still alive on this ship anyway. I don’t have the right to put my uncle before any of them.”

“Spoken like a true Droxian.”

Not far from Arknon a female Droxian regained consciousness.

“Are you alright, Lieutenant?”

She held her head in her hands. “I-I think so. Where’s the captain?”

“I’m afraid he didn’t make it. I’m in command now.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“In fact there is. We’re about to crash this ship on the planet’s surface. I need you to locate survivors throughout the ship, then you and whomever you find should locate an escape pod and abandon ship.”

Her eyes grew wide.

“Do you need me to repeat that order, Lieutenant?”

She straightened up and saluted. “No, Captain, as you command.”

She took a portable scanner and left the bridge.

“Do you think there are many people alive on board?” asked Ronan.

“The life-signs sensors are damaged, but I think we would have encountered more crewmen by now if there were any who had regained consciousness. None tried contacting the bridge either, so either internal communications are down or only a handful survived.”

“Then why did you give her that assignment?”

“To keep her occupied while we approach Droxia. Who knows, maybe she’ll save a life or two in the process.”

*   *   *

It felt as if time had slowed down to a crawl when Chase looked at the incoming plasma fire from the Zarlack destroyer. Could he stop it with his mind? He could try, but the risk of creating an anomaly was very real. Would the ship survive the impact in their currently low-powered state?

But then something happened.

The
Destiny
exited hyperspace and positioned itself to protect the
Hope
and take the hit instead.

Chase exhaled deeply as time resumed a normal pace, his rapid heartbeat a reminder of how precious it was to be alive.

“That was too close for comfort,” said Sarah.

The
Hope
received a hail. “Everyone alright over there?” asked Commodore Saroudis.

“Better than the rest of the fleet, thanks to you. We’ve lost a lot of ships”

“Well, thanks to your insisting on getting the
Destiny
away from the battlegroup, you were able to spare one more.”

“Believe me, I had no idea what would happen.”

“And yet your instinct was right once again.”

“I’m unsure about that. We’ve lost a lot of good people today, Commodore.”

“Don’t second guess yourself, Chase. What’s done is done. Let’s keep fighting. We’ll have time to worry about this later.”

Chase realized it was the first time the commodore had addressed him by his first name for a while. It felt good.

“I guess so. Thank you, Commodore, we could really use the assist.”

“You should retreat and effect the necessary repairs. I’ll get that last bogie out of the sky for you.”

“Roger that. Commodore, we’ll also try to see if anybody survived the initial blast that took out most of our fleet.”

“Very well. The
Destiny
will join the search once I’m done here.”

“Sarah, please scan for survivors in the debris field. Let’s see if we can render assistance to the disabled ships as well.”

“I’m on it.”

Ryonna sat next to Chase.

“We have to jump back to Droxia now.”

“I understand how you feel, Ryonna. We will go soon, I promise. But please give me just a few moments to try to locate Fillio first.”

Ryonna seemed annoyed, but she knew better than to push Chase.

“I also suspect Ares has a way for me to reach Droxia faster than by jumping there.”

“How is that even possible?”

“He has clearly acquired a new set of powers since Argos killed him. Tar’Lock told me how Ares took control of his body to bring the arena’s force field down when we were fighting the Titan.”

“He has told me that story as well.”

“Where is he, by the way?”

“I slipped him a sedative in his food earlier on. He was getting on my nerves.”

Chase smiled.

“Then we should let him sleep this one off. I doubt he could be of any use to us anyway.”

Chase reached with his mind to try to locate a working StarFury. He was unsuccessful with the first three but the fourth one his mind probed seemed to be in flying order, even though it was heavily damaged.

He scanned the area with the
Hope
’s sensors, trying to locate Fillio’s craft. It took a while but he located her fighter. It was in really bad shape. One of its wings had been torn off and it was currently drifting towards some of the larger debris from one of the Droxian destroyers. He punched the engines of his remote StarFury and vectored towards her.

“Fillio! Can you hear me? Please respond.”

There was no answer.

He expanded his mind and focused his thoughts on her starfighter. Life support was erratic at best. Pushing his mind further allowed him to hear a heartbeat, but it was very faint. He needed to get to her quickly. His StarFury entered tractor beam range in the nick of time, and he successfully locked onto her before her fighter collided with the debris. He brought the ship back onboard the
Hope
.

A few seconds later Chase witnessed the
Destiny
blowing the last Zarlack destroyer to kingdom come with its main guns.

He opened a channel to Yanis.

“Yanis, you should meet me in landing bay three.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“It’s Fillio.”

“Is . . . Is she alright?”

Chase could feel the fear in his friend’s voice. “I don’t know yet.”

“On my way!”

Chase looked at Sarah for a second and then flew out of the bridge.

When he arrived in landing bay three, his StarFury was just arriving with whatever was left of Fillio’s fighter in tow.

The damage to her StarFury was extensive. Smoke still escaped from the engines. Most of the armor plating on one side of the craft was gone, revealing circuitry that spewed sparks onto the deck. Her cockpit’s windshield was cracked.

He flew above the nose of the craft and saw her. He could no longer sense her life signs. Losing no time, he tore off the canopy and threw it to one side. He carefully took her in his arms and levitated back to towards the deck, where he gently laid her on the cold metal floor.

Yanis arrived.

She was badly wounded, with many electrical burns and bleeding wounds. Probably some internal bleeding as well.

Chase put his hands on her and started healing her. The surface wounds were taken care of quickly, but something was wrong. He could usually sense a positive feedback and life being injected back into the people he healed, but for some reason it didn’t work this time. Was she too far gone?

“Is she going to be okay?” asked Yanis, barely able to breathe.

“I . . . I don’t know.”

“Don’t you dare let her die! You promised you would protect her.”

Chase’s eyes burned with the beginning of tears.

Why isn’t it working? Why isn’t she healing, dammit?

Chase emptied his mind and tried to push his healing abilities to the maximum, but to no avail. He could not sense life flowing into her.

That’s when he heard a voice inside his mind.
It’s okay, Chase, you can let me go now.

No! Fillio, please fight this! Let me revive you.

I’m tired, Chase. I’ve been tired of all of this for a while now. Please, if our friendship ever meant anything to you, then you’ll let me go.